Been a while

Sorry it has taken me so long to add another post.  I wanted to be more consistent, but I also wanted to get a certain project finished before I posted again.  Needless to say, it is going to take much longer than I anticipated, so I am going to show you a sneak peek today!  It's the whole reason that I have been waiting to post!  However, until I show you what it is, I wanted to share what I have been doing in my spare time.  This past weekend I went to visit my best friend, and earlier last week my husband, daughter and I went to the zoo.  I have some great pictures and thoughts to share, so hang on and have fun reading!

Scott and I decided to stay home during his week of vacation instead of going on a trip.  It was a nice break for him, and it was fabulous to have him home.  However, we did decide that we wanted to do a family day trip, so we took Ava to a zoo that is a couple hours away from our home.  It was so much fun!  Ava and I got to feed the giraffe's, and I got the closest to a live lion that I ever have.  We also visited work camps (simulated) of African safari's.  The day was a total blast, and we were all exhausted by the time we got home.

Ava and Scott in a Safari tent

Ava and I feeding the giraffes

I'm a Leo, so it was awesome to be so close to an actual lion!  He was gorgeous!

For the past four days, Ava and I have driven to the other end of the state to visit with Betsy (best friend since sixth grade) and her family.  We had such a relaxing and nice time!  Ava and I were so sad to leave, but we missed home as well.  Just sitting with Betsy in the evenings made me realize the evolution of friendship.  She and I have bee through so much in the twenty-some years we have been friends.  But now it comes to being comfortable in our skin and our lives and learning about being an adult.  We laughed (so much) and talked about everything (which we usually do).  We vented and told jokes, as well as enjoyed all of the kids.  I am so thankful for her friendship.  I don't think anyone quite gets me like she does.  :)



Betsy and I on pride rock

Okay, now for the project I have been working on all summer so far.  It is a very involved project.  I am making my first sculpture!  It's a wire tree with canvas, hand-painted leaves, and a log base.  The structure of the trunk and branches was really fun to do!  It took a couple of hours, but was completely enjoyable.  The leaves are what have been taking forever.  I made what seemed like a bazillion of them, but after attaching many of them I realized that I don't even have half of what they need!  Each leaf is hand painted and hand shaded.  They take forever.  Plus, I figured putting the leaves on the tree was going to be the simplest part and not take very long at all.  Boy, was I wrong!  Not only do I need to attach it with metal glue, I also need to put a stitch in each leaf to keep them from moving around while they dry.  This project is taking quite some time, but I am completely enjoying the process.  Check out what I have so far and let me know what you think!

Me working on the tree.  If you look closely, you can see the base of the tree, and a couple of leaves that have been added.

The structure of the tree.

Next time I will post better pictures of my progress, and keep you updated.

Hope all is well wherever you are, and that your creative passion is bursting forth to the world!  Peace ~S.